The Top 10 TV Ratings Moments of 2018

It's time for my ninth annual look back at the year's top 10 moments in TV ratings! As always, the criteria are pretty subjective, but I go for a blend of 1) relatively isolated incidents that are impressive for their sheer enormity/cultural impact and 2) moments that exemplify much larger trends in TV this year. Please let me know about my most egregious rankings and omissions. Happy New Year!

The Breakdown: ABC Tuesday in 2017-18 (Roseanne, The Middle, Black-ish and more!)

It's time for a journey through the ABC Tuesday schedule in 2017-18...

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 5/22/18

FINALS UPDATE: Roseanne (2.5) and NCIS (1.3) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC said goodbye to nine-season comedy staple The Middle, which averaged a 1.8 in its regular 8:30 timeslot and fell to 1.6 for the second half of the one-hour finale. Though The Middle couldn't get back to its levels from the early Roseanne weeks, this was up multiple tenths from what it's been doing earlier this month. Its lead-in Roseanne (2.4) ended the spring on a season low, and Splitting Up Together (1.0) didn't look so hot leading out of Middle at 9:30. For the People headed into a long off-season with its third 0.5 in the final four weeks.

• On NBC, The Voice completed its limp to the finish with a 1.5/1.4 for its two-hour finale from 9:00 to 11:00. Even though it didn't have to go up against Dancing with the Stars like in previous years, this will be down considerably from last spring's 1.9 finale. (Last spring's finale also had to lead out of Great News (0.7/0.8), while this one got a Voice recap (1.1).)

• CBS' NCIS (1.2) ended the season even or narrowly down, leading into a repeat (0.7) and the return of newsmagazine 48 Hours: NCIS (0.5). The CW's The Flash (0.8) ended the season well, but it was no help to The 100 which was stuck at 0.3. Fox went with a movie (0.4/0.5).

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 5/15/18

FINALS UPDATE: The Middle (1.5), NCIS (1.3) and Chicago Med (1.0) adjusted up while The 100 (0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• CBS was all the way back to normal with NCIS (1.2) in the week after Pauley Perrette's departure. Following it was a two-hour season finale for NCIS: New Orleans, with a rare 1.0 in the 9/8c hour (though still worse than what Bull usually did here) followed by a 0.8 at 10/9c.

• On Fox, a seven-season run for New Girl (0.6/0.6) ended quietly, up a tenth from last week while leading out of a MasterChef Junior recap special (0.5).

• ABC was very close to last week with Roseanne (2.6), The Middle (1.4), Black-ish (1.2), Splitting Up Together (1.0) and For the People (0.5). NBC was up with The Voice (1.4) but down with Chicago Med (0.9), while Rise finished its run with its usual 0.7 in the middle. And the CW matched last week with The Flash (0.7) and The 100 (0.4).

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 5/8/18

FINALS UPDATE: The Voice (1.3) and Chicago Med (1.1) adjusted up while Bull (1.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• NCIS said goodbye to original cast member Pauley Perrette with a season high-tying 1.6 demo rating, up at least four tenths from last week. The boost definitely carried through to Bull (1.3), which was up two tenths, but NCIS: New Orleans (0.8) somehow dropped at 10/9c.

• Even a much bigger NCIS was unable to faze Roseanne (2.6), as it matched last week's final and beat last week's prelim. The Middle (1.5) and Black-ish (1.2) also tied last week, but the network was down a tenth in the second half of the evening with Splitting Up Together (1.0) and For the People (0.5).

• Fox's Lethal Weapon (0.8) was up in what turned out to be Clayne Crawford's final episode, while a move to doubling up at 9/8c did nothing for New Girl (0.5/0.5). NBC (1.2/0.7/1.0) matched last week and the CW was actually on the upswing with both The Flash (0.7) and The 100 (0.4).

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 5/1/18

FINALS UPDATE: Roseanne (2.6) and Chicago Med (1.0) adjusted up while The 100 (0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Back from a week off, the gigahit days came to an end for Roseanne (2.5), which shed close to a quarter of its demo rating from two weeks ago. This single week-to-week drop wouldn't have looked so severe if Johnny Galecki hadn't been on the episode two weeks ago, but the show is now in a territory where we can't completely rule out it falling out of 300 A18-49+ territory for the season (though it would need more steep drops to come).

• Later in the night, The Middle (1.5) took a similar drop (in its case compared with three weeks ago). Black-ish (1.2) and Splitting Up Together (1.1) were actually up from the Alex, Inc. night two weeks ago, and down just a tenth from when they led out of The Middle three weeks ago. And For the People clawed its way back up to 0.6 at 10/9c.

• CBS' dramas (1.2/1.1/0.9) were also back from a week off and basically matched two weeks ago, but things got really ugly for Fox's Lethal Weapon (0.7), LA to Vegas (0.5) and New Girl (0.5), as well as The Voice (1.2) on NBC. Rise stayed at 0.7 and Chicago Med (0.9) inched down.

• On the CW, The Flash matched last week's 0.6, while The 100 will be hoping to hang onto a second straight 0.4 in finals.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/17/18

FINALS UPDATE: Alex, Inc. (1.3), NCIS (1.2), Lethal Weapon (0.8) and The Flash (0.7) adjusted up while For the People (0.5) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• In Johnny Galecki's return to Roseanne (3.4), the show took little to no week-to-week drop as it heads into a repeat night next week. This week, the gigahit lead-in juice was squandered on a special Tuesday showing of Wednesday comedy Alex, Inc. (1.2), which took an enormous drop relative to last week's The Middle (2.0). That difference resonated later in the night, as Black-ish (1.1) and Splitting Up Together (1.0) each fell by two more tenths.

• It was a rough night elsewhere on the big four, especially in the 8/7c hour as CBS' NCIS (1.1) got rolled in its return after a week off and NCIS: New Orleans (0.8) also fell to a new low (though Bull (1.1) held up better).

• Fox also saw a big 8/7c drop with Lethal Weapon (0.7) in its second episode of the spring, while LA to Vegas (0.6) and New Girl (0.6) fell as well. And NBC was down at 8/7c with The Voice (1.5), but Rise stayed at 0.8 and Chicago Med somehow managed an increase to 1.2.

• And the CW said goodbye to a highly successful season one of Black Lightning with another 0.5, while The Flash was stuck at last week's 0.6.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/10/18

FINALS UPDATE: Roseanne (3.5), The Middle (2.0) and Lethal Weapon (0.9) adjusted up while Black-ish (1.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC's Roseanne (3.4) stayed in giga-hit territory in week three, dropping by 0.5 in the prelims for a low-teens decline week-to-week. The other comedies The Middle (1.9), Black-ish (1.4) and Splitting Up Together (1.2) followed in similar fashion, with SUT falling just a bit farther behind its Black-ish lead-in this time. At 10/9c, the aura finally wore off for For the People, which crashed back to the 0.6 it pulled in the last week pre-Roseanne.

• On Fox, New Girl (0.7) was back for its final season at 9:30, airing its first new episode in over a calendar year. It didn't look particularly different from what The Mick had been doing in the hour, and fell behind everything it did last season. Lethal Weapon (0.8) also returned from hiatus on Fox, dropping to a new season low in its first episode since Daylight Saving Time.

• ABC may have gotten some help from lighter competition on the other two networks; NBC's The Voice (1.3) was in recap special mode (though Rise (0.8) and Chicago Med (1.1) held steady), while CBS went with an NCIS repeat (0.7) and a two-hour Elton John special (1.0/0.9). On the CW, The Flash returned to a new low 0.6.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/3/18

FINALS UPDATE: Rise (0.8) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC's Roseanne revival phenomenon (3.9) came only part of the way back to ratings reality in week two, staying very close to what was the previous highest regular episode on broadcast this season: 4.1 for The Big Bang Theory's season premiere. It's a little steeper drop than the typical week two of a new show, but still a smaller decline than Will and Grace saw in its second week back. Considering the unthinkable point it was starting from, that goes down as a win.

• This week, Roseanne was only a half hour, and The Middle (2.2) returned to begin its final stretch of episodes at 8:30. That was easily a season high for Middle, and its first time in the twos since January 2016. The 9:00 hour fell hard with much-reduced lead-in support, but Black-ish (1.5) still tied with the season premiere for the second-biggest episode of the season. And Splitting Up Together (1.4) once again exhibited great retention at 9:30. For the People (0.8) was down just a tenth at 10/9c.

• A few viewers migrated back to the other networks, as NBC's The Voice (1.8), Rise (0.9) and Chicago Med (1.1) were all up a notch from last week. CBS' Bull (1.2) and Fox's LA to Vegas (0.7) also edged up.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 3/27/18

FINALS UPDATE: Roseanne (5.2), The Voice (1.7) and The Mick (0.7) adjusted up while Splitting Up Together (2.1) and Bull (1.1) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• The power of nostalgia in the TV world has become clearer in recent years, but the revival of Roseanne (5.1) took it to another level entirely on Tuesday night. Over 20 years after its last episode, the series returned with (excepting the post-Super Bowl This Is Us) the highest adults 18-34 rating (3.1), 18-49 rating (5.1) and 25-54 rating (6.8) for an original non-sports series this season. (Only Sunday's 60 Minutes beat it out in total viewership.) There wasn't even anything this high in adults 18-49 or adults 25-54 on broadcast last season (again excluding the post-Super Bowl episode).

• There were still two hours left in ABC's night after the Roseanne explosion. Veteran Black-ish (2.6) got to be the direct lead-out and had its highest raw number since early in season one. New comedy Splitting Up Together (2.2) then launched really well at 9:30. There was then a major drop at 10/9c with week three of For the People (0.9), although it still eked out a new series high.

• The big loser among the counterprogrammers was NBC, as The Voice (1.6) continued a rough week by dropping at least a half point week-to-week, and Rise (0.8) tanked by three tenths at 9/8c. When some order was restored by the end of the night, Chicago Med (1.0) did perk up enough to win the 10/9c hour.

• On CBS, NCIS (1.3) was down a couple notches at 8/7c, but Bull (1.2) and NCIS: New Orleans (0.9) looked relatively normal. Fox's comedies LA to Vegas (0.6) and The Mick (0.6) both lost a tenth, while Black Lightning posted another 0.5 with a repeat The Flash lead-in.
  

SpotVault - Roseanne (ABC) - Spring 2018 Ratings